Voluntary displacement

From Henri Nouwen: "According to Webster's dictionary, diplacement means, to move or to shift from the oridnary or proper place. This becomes a telling definition when we realize the extent to which we are preoccupied with adapting ourselves to the prevalent norms and values of our milieu. We want to be ordinary and proper people who live ordinary and proper lives. There is an enormous pressure on us to do what is ordinary and proper - even the attempt to excel is ordinary and proper - and thus find the satisfaction of general acceptance. This is quite understandable since the ordinary and proper behavior that gives shape to our ordinary and proper lives offers us the comforting illusion that things are under control and that everything extraordinary and improper can be kept outisde the walls of our self-created fortress" ("Compassion," 1982).